Tuesday, April 14, 2015

South Africa March 2015 (Draft)

For the first time in EVS, we have a close look at the South African EV Market, a baby that started just last year with the arrival of the Nissan Leaf, later joined by the BMW i offerings.

There were unconfirmed data saying that these pioneers were actually selling in significant numbers (For a Zero Year, at least), and thanks to local Carmag magazine (They published the March sales numbers), we can now have some insight on what's going on there.

The Nissan Leaf was the first to arrive, but the early hype (It has got to selling 20 units/month last year), has faded and it's now behind the BMW's, with the i3 leading the (small) ranking and the i8 sports car in Second.

In total, some 100 units were registered in the First Quarter of the year, pulling the EV Share to 0,06%, up from the 0,02% of last year, it might not sound much, but these numbers compare favorably with other markets, like Poland (42 units, 0,04% Share), which have been in the EV bandwagon for longer (Since 2011, in the case in question).